Dozens of hoax calls have meant firefighters have been forced to potentially put lives at risk as a result of others not being responsible for their actions.

In the last 12 months, there have been 48 malicious calls to fire crews.

Disappointed with the numbers, station manager Mike Clusker said: “Although it works out we only have one a week we don’t want to become complacent.

“Every call we get we treat it as an emergency. When we discover it has been a hoax it’s disappointing.

“Although hoax calls are bad, we can’t band them all together – some are from people who are suffering from mental health issues, these can be hard.

“We do work alongside other services so we are able to help signpost people who do need extra support.”

The station manager has been a firefighter for more than 20 years and has seen the difference in calls in that time.

“The control operator never used to challenge callers,” he said, “whereas now they go into more details and they’re able to find out if it’s genuine.”

He also credits the reduction down to education and prevention.

Since April there have been 26 calls, most of which were to report fires, but crews have even been called to bomb scares.

The manager is thankful Cumbria has not got a serious problem with these types of call but said: “Most people have a mobile phone which can be traced. I think this has helped, but the cost of these calls could put someone life in danger.

“If a person persistently calls, we’re able to get the number frozen. We have never had do that in Cumbria, though.

“We’re at a fraction of the number we were at just 10 or 15 years ago.

“People are more aware of the consequences. For those who do make the calls, we need them to take responsibility for their actions it could cost a life.

“We don’t have time to be angry about the calls it’s just a waste of time and disappointing.”

Jointly the police and fire service said: “Misuse of the public emergency telephone system through hoax, malicious or nuisance calls is an extremely serious matter.

“Such actions are irresponsible and in the worst cases can put the lives of members of the public at risk. In an emergency, seconds count.”